1. Field of the Description
The present description relates, in general, to amusement park rides and other entertainment rides such as round rides, and, more particularly, to amusement or theme park rides configured to provide passengers with varying and unpredictable ride experiences while utilizing a rotating central hub to move vehicles about a central axis.
2. Relevant Background
Amusement and theme parks are popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. However, park operators continuously seek new designs for rides that attract and continue to entertain guests. Many parks include round rides that include vehicles or gondolas mounted on support arms extending outward from a centrally located drive or rotation assembly. The passengers or riders sit in the vehicles and are rotated in a circle about the drive assembly, which spins about its central axis.
While these rides are popular with younger children, these rides are typically not considered an exciting ride that appeals to older guests as the rides often rotate at less than 10 revolutions per minute (RPM) and provide less sophisticated mental stimulation. In some of these rides, the guests may operate an interactive device, such as a joystick in the vehicle, to make the support arm and their attached vehicle gradually move upward or downward. Some rides also allow the guests to control the pitch of their vehicle. In other round rides, the vehicles are rotated on a fixed track that may have raised portions or “hills” that the vehicle rolls over to try to add some differing ride experiences. However, since the track is fixed and the central hub is rotated at a fixed speed, the ride is very cyclic and predictable as the rider of the vehicle has experienced all the variations of the ride after one single rotation of the hub. After that first loop, the ride is repetitive in nature.
While existing round rides provide an enjoyable experience, the relatively low rotation rate and “generic” or overly predictable experiences have been significant barriers to the variability of thrill or excitement that could be provided with a ride based on a round ride design (e.g., one with a central rotating hub and vehicles supported upon arms extending out from the hub). As a consequence, park operators desire a more exciting and variable ride that retains the simplicity, affordability, and appeal for multi-arm rotating rides while increasing passenger enjoyment for all ages such as by increasing the thrill-factor and/or by providing a more variable and less predictable ride experience.